Episode XII
If King James was my father, then that meant that I used to be a prince. I was both happy and confused upon knowing this. Happy, because I was related to King James, but confused, because NONE of this made any sense. None of it. Not one part.
Suppose I really was a prince all those years ago, living happily in this very castle. My father was the king, and I had a brother, along with two twin sisters.
There was already a problem in this, and I had only just begun. For starters, I needed a mother. I had never heard a single person in this castle speak of a queen or even anything about King James having a wife. For now, I would just assume that my mother had died of some sickness and that no one spoke of her because they did not want to remember how terrible her death had been.
Do allow me to state the rest of my case. One random day, the castle’s most beloved prince – that’s me, by the way – disappeared, and everyone continued living normally, as if the prince had never been born in the first place. Then, on another random day, the most beloved prince would somehow land in Supercell’s factory and somehow get turned into a Cannon and somehow forget everything about his past and somehow get delivered back into the same castle he came from.
Meanwhile, the castle’s big group of idiots would still be pretending that the prince had never disappeared and that the strange talking Cannon had nothing to do with it. Later, on an even randomer day, the king – who happened to be the only one who still remembered that the prince even existed – would tell the strange talking Cannon that he was his father all along.
See what I meant? Nothing made sense. Why didn’t anyone care when I was turned into a Cannon? And how exactly was I supposed to come from Mr. Supercell’s factory if I had been a human in the castle all along? I remembered being created into a Cannon from iron. How could I even have that memory if I was transformed from a human rather than being made as a Cannon?
Knowing who I was only made the whole story much more complicated. Because now that I knew I was the prince, I wanted to know the true and full story of my past. And in order for it to make sense, I knew Raven must have played a part. So I would just have to continue waiting and hope that she would appear to me soon and tell me everything as she had promised.
I chose to keep my new discovery a secret. So far, the only person who seemed to know that King James was my father was King James himself. I figured it would probably be best if no one else knew – not even Mavey.
I passed by Hannah one day while I was heading towards the Game room. I chose to use it as an opportunity to confirm what I had already believed.
“Hi Hannah,” I said, approaching her.
“Hey.”
This was going to sound really weird. “Okay… so, did you… um… ever… uh… have a brother? Like… other than Charles, I mean?” Wow. That came out terribly.
She stared at me blankly. “Sorry, I didn’t quite get that.”
“Did you ever have a second brother?” I asked again.
“No. Why?” So it was true. No one remembered me, not even my own sister.
“Just curious.”
“Okay.”
It was the only confirmation I needed. If Hannah did not remember me, no one could have. But King James knew who I used to be. And that was where it got complicated.
I talked to him a week later, trying to see whether he would explain more to me. I was his son after all, and I deserved to know what he knew.
“Hello, my king,” I said, slightly bowing to him.
“Hey, Danny.”
I walked up closer and whispered, “Can we talk in private?”
“Of course. Guards, please leave the room immediately, thank you.” The Guards left at his command, scurrying out the door. Then King James turned to me. “You can call me ‘Dad’, you know? Or ‘Father’ if you would prefer it.”
Dad. Father. Both sounded foreign to me. “Um…”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to.”
Hopefully, this conversation wouldn’t go too downhill. “Why didn’t you tell me you were my father earlier? Like – I’m not angry or anything, I just want to know why.”
“Look, Danny, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how you were going to take it. I was scared that you might have hated me for not being a good father to you. But I’m trying to make it up now, and I really hope you can see how hard I’m going to try.”
I nodded. “Just the other day, I asked Hannah if she ever had a second brother, and she said no. Why is that?” Please answer my question. Please, please, please…
“Hannah was young when you were gone. She probably doesn’t remember you.” I had a really hard time believing that, but I decided not to tell him. Whether he was lying or not, I would receive all the information from the Night Witch once she came to me.
“Okay. Just wondering, what was my role in the castle before I was turned into a Cannon?” I didn’t really care whether he answered this one or not.
“Oh Danny, isn’t it obvious? Charles is the Prince, so you must have been the Dark Prince!” He said.
“Well, I could have been a Prince too. You have more than one Witch in the castle, so you could also have more than one Prince,” I stated.
He smiled at me. “Good point.”
I only had one more question left. “What happened to my mother?”
His expression darkened, and I knew he wasn’t going to answer this one. “Let’s not talk about her, okay?”
But I wasn’t giving up that easily. “Tell me. Tell me what happened to her.”
“Please, Danny, can’t we talk about something else?”
No. “You said you were going to be a good father to me, and yet you won’t even tell me anything about my mother. Can’t you see how strange that is?” I didn’t realize how much I had hurt him until he started crying. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to come–”
“Your mother was always devoted to helping others. She had a kind heart, and she loved you so very much. It’s just… she’s gone. She’s not here anymore, and it hurts to think about her, but… she was a great person, Danny. She really was. And you’re a lot like her, you know?”
I didn’t know what to say, and I wasn’t good at comforting people. “Was she a good queen?”
“She would have been a great queen, but she didn’t want the position nor the title. I kept trying to convince her to take the role. Clearly, I failed.”
“It’s okay.” He didn’t look very comfortable talking about his dead wife, so I did not want to push him any further. “Bye… Dad.”
I left the Main Hall and hung around in the library with Mavey. I picked a book from the shelf called Green Glass Door and began reading the first page:
Once upon a time, there lived a wealthy man who was skilled in…
I threw the book down on the table and groaned. I was bored already. Why did every story need to start with “Once upon a time”?
Mavey lowered the book he was reading and stared at me. “Are you okay?”
“Got bored after reading only half of the first sentence.”
He reached out a hand. “Can I see that book?”
I nodded and handed it to him.
He looked at the cover and flipped through the first few pages. “Green Glass Door,” he said slowly. “I read this book when I was six. And honestly, I really enjoyed it.”
Woah. That book was over 500 pages long. “You really read a lot, don’t you?
“Not really, I’ve only read all the books in this library.” What a nerd.
I smiled weakly.
“Sorry, that sounded a little boastful. What types of stories do you like? I can find a book for you,” he suggested.
“I’m not sure actually. I pretty much just read the ones with nice covers,” I admitted.
“I’ll find one for you.” He stood up, walked through an aisle labeled “Nonfiction”, and came back to our table with a book titled The History of Clash Royale. “Try this one.”
We stayed in the library until noon, when it was time for lunch. We headed to the kitchen together, and I filled my plate with small chunks of beef, peas, potatoes, and rice. As I reached for a fork, I saw the Night Witch’s face appear on my napkin, and her cold laughs filled my ears.
I shrieked and dropped my plate, letting the food spill all over the floor and drawing attention from everyone in the kitchen. Oops.
“Ugh! What’s your problem, stupid Cannon? Do you know how much this dress costs?” I spun around and saw Lyssa, Violet’s sister, with a disgusted look on her face. Apparently, some of the food had gotten onto her clothing. I rolled my eyes and ignored her.
Mavey saw my shattered plate on the floor and quickly grabbed paper towels to help clean it up. The mess was gone within a few seconds.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” he replied. “What happened?”
Hating the Night Witch more than ever, I looked back at the napkin that was now lying in the trash can. Her face was gone. “Nothing,” I said. “Just careless.”
He grinned. “That’s why you squealed, right?”
“Yep.” I grabbed another plate from the stack and filled it with more food. “Totally.”
“C’mon let’s go. We’re holding the line up.” And that was the good thing about Mavey. He never pushed someone for answers.
We walked into the Cafeteria together, and I knew that was a mistake the moment I stepped inside. It was total chaos – a food fight, clearly. There was rice scattered on the floor, potatoes on the seats and tables, and the peas were everywhere. Food was flying across the room, and plates smashed against the walls. I looked up just in time to see a fork coming straight at me. I dodged to the left, and the fork hit Mavey instead.
I nudged him in the side. “Let’s go, this is too crazy.”
“What? No! I love food fights!” THIS WAS NO ORDINARY FOOD FIGHT.
“Do you want to get stabbed in the eye by a knife? I’m not joking, Mavey. They’re throwing knives at each other.”
“Hey,” he said, reaching for his Rage Spell. “I got this.”
Before I could stop him, he gulped down half the bottle, and hooked it back onto his belt.
He grabbed food from the floor and rushed towards the center of the fight, throwing chunks of rice at everyone around him. He moved faster than anyone else in the Cafeteria, dodged their knives easily, and knocked down tables just for fun. I didn’t know too much about food fights, but I could easily tell he was winning.
Meanwhile, I was hiding in a corner, trying to remain unnoticed. No one really cared about me at the moment, which was a good thing. I didn’t have to worry about getting hit. The food fight ended ten minutes later, when King James came into the room. He wasn’t very happy about seeing his Cafeteria ruined like this.
“Attention everyone!” He yelled from where he was. “I need every Witch and Wizard to stay here and clean this room up. Everyone else is dismissed.” And that was exactly what happened.
Two days later, I watched a few battles between King James and Cadey. King James used his usual Lumberjack Hog Rider Team, while Cadey used something that included a Giant and an Executioner.
To be honest, I didn’t really like being near the Executioner. Maybe it was his wicked smile, or his razor sharp axe, but whatever it was, he made me feel uncomfortable.
Anyways, Cadey won all the battles, which was expected. Even though King James began Royale matches before her, she played way more often – pretty much everyday. But I could also tell that King James was improving. During their first few battles, Cadey managed to take down all three towers within a minute. Later on, the battles became more intense, where they needed to go into overtime.
Things weren’t going too terribly for me. King James and I were growing closer each day, and I soon developed a habit in calling him “Dad”. It came naturally now.
I also heard from him that Cadey had finally received a Legendary card. She got a Sparky, and if I remembered correctly, that was the one Legendary that she did not want. Well, it sure sucked to be her.
But even with a Legendary she didn’t wish for, Cadey somehow managed to reach Hog Mountain. I suppose I was happy for her, even if King James was still down here in Frozen Peak.
We gained a few new members in the castle, including the Ice Spirit and the Bowler. King James even built a Bowling Alley for us to enjoy, or probably just for the Bowler to show off his skill.
All in all, everything was great. I improved my precision when it came to shooting at moving targets. I learned how to become a better son to King James. Mavey and I had become inseparable friends, closer than I would ever have been with anyone else. I even forgot about Penny, which I thought I would never be able to do.
But there was still one thing that bothered me, and it would never go away until I got exactly what I wanted – the Night Witch needed to come to me.
